If I build links to internal page that has anchors pointing to home page, will it flow on?

I have a few local lead gen. websites set up and running. I noticed one of my sites just dropped around 3-5 spots on various keywords on Google. The site is new (around a month) so it could just be Google mucking around (I need to get the site back up where it was) - the site will probably go back up in a couple of days to #1 where it was (low comp. local KW's).

I do have a question though, for those who have specifically tried it / are experienced with the scenario.

Currently I've been building links strictly to the home page. The content on the site is completely static, other than the blog posts I make, which all usually contain one or two anchors pointing back to my money site. I never build links to any other page, other than home.

I realize it is silly, but it has worked well for me across other sites in local communities without a problem. I would like to change that, though.

If I make a blog post with anchor "dentist town" pointing back to my home page - can I then build links to said blog post using anchor "dentist town" and have it flow on and promote the home page, and not the blog post?

My home page is already ranking for "dentist town" and I wouldn't want to confuse Google about which page to rank. The sites are WordPress, and I have heard about this canonical tags feature? - but I don't know how to make it work globally across the whole website to ensure that the home page is always the one that ranks.

What are your thoughts?

EDIT: Seems canonical is for dupe content, and not telling Google which page should be the dominant one for said KW.

You really need to start building deep links. I've been teaching this for years now, but with the panda updates of 2011 it's become essential.

You also need a wide variety in your anchor texts, both to the home page and the deep/inner pages. You should be using URL anchors, and generic 'click here' type anchors too. Use long tail anchors with a wide range or prefix and suffixes words to maintain the phrase match integrity but provide variety and a good bell-curve distribution across your ranking words.

For the deep pages, I'd avoid using the exact match home page anchors; use long tails and extended anchors to add juice to these pages and ensure they link back to the home page through the correct exact/phrase match anchor for the home page. Do not link down to these pages with the same exact match anchor, as that will confuse google. Internally, all on-page SEO should direct juice via the correct terms. Inbound anchors can and should be much less precise to look more natural. You should select secondary and tertiary relevant keywords to build ranking for on the inner pages, and these will in-turn add link power and internal juice transfer to your home page.

You should never send more than 50% of your links to your home page as it looks too contrived and unnatural. And it's also the hallmark of purpose built niche sites; I.e. a footprint for Google.

I own thousands of sites across multiple lead gen networks, and I have consistently proved this to be the case.

Canonicalisation is normally only a problem with home pages, where the index.??? ranks differently to the root home page.

That pretty much outlined all of what I needed to know. I always thought of the same lines you do, but have been 'lazy' to implement it in that way.

I think I might start needing to do my SEO a little better, even on the local low comp. terms. It seems I might have got a small 5 point penalty across google. Is that even possible though? It might just be a bit of dancing.

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